Olympique Lyonnais – Barcelona: Lyon escape the clutches of Barcelona to somehow come away with a decent result (0-0)

The incessant attacking flow of this game was in no way comparable to the final scoreline. However, a lot more of the open attacks fell in favor of the visitors, whose exploits in every third of the pitch were superior to Lyon. The weaknesses within Lyon’s deep block were plain to see but Barcelona could not muster up the finishing touch to make their opponents pay.Tactical analysis and match report by Peter M.

Bruno Génésio and Ernesto Valverde are two managers that are always questioned, always in the hot seat, always under scrutiny.

Génésio’s Lyon are in fine form, although it took them a while to get there, whilst Barcelona have been facing a few struggles in their recent, uninspiring performances. Fans of the latter, now more than ever following Valverde’s contract extension, have become the voice of negativity, so it is essential for Barcelona to lay down a marker here, not just for their own team’s sake but the fans, as well.

Three changes were made by Génésio from their 2-1 win over EA Guingamp with Fernando Marçal dropping out for the preferred Ferland Mendy. Tanguy Ndombélé reprised his role in a midfield pairing with Houssem Aouar and behind Moussa Dembélé stepped in Memphis Depay for the suspended Nabil Fekir.

Barcelona had rotated more heavily against Real Valladolid, now seeing Thomas Vermaelen, Carlos Aleñá, Arturo Vidal and Kevin-Prince Boateng sit back out in for the likes of Clément Lenglet, Nélson Semedo, Ivan Rakitić and Luis Suárez.

Peter (20), lives just outside of London. He’s been writing about tactics and such for over a year now, contributing to a couple of sites during that time. His main club is Arsenal but he’s also followed Real Betis quite heavily since Quique Setién took over last year. This form of writing has become a great passion of his and, although he’s unsure of what his end aim is, he’s enjoying being given new opportunities to continue doing so.
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